Initial thoughts for the lakers are that they are trying to build a super team like miami did with the big 3.

But is gasol a better fit than howard, in the lakers structure, he can shoot etc...

not sure if dwight will see enough ball, or is it..

Nash pass to kobe.
Howard rebound for kobe.
Kobe jack up as many shots as you can for Kobe?

As a sixer fan i'm happy to get rid of Iguodala. Give the Young's more court time!

But *yawn* wake me up when Howard is traded.

****Mistake - Gasol and Affalo to ORLANDA

Mod: Fixed original post

Its the 2012 Lakers triangle offense. Has 3 parts, must be a triangle yeah? One would have to assume that is what will happen. Either way the Lakers will be interesting to watch, and should still stay a contender. I dont think they will go backwards losing Gasol and Bynum for Howard.

Sixers trading for Bynum I think is a good thing. Couldnt see them going any deeper with Iggy, but at the same time cant see them going deeper with Bynum - just yet.

Nuggets look to strengthen - maybe this will revitalise Iggy as long as ne doesnt fit into Carmelos old shoes.

Doesn't look like Gasol is involved to me:

A source with direct knowledge of the talks told ESPN.com's Marc Stein that the Lakers will receive Howard, the Denver Nuggets will get Andre Iguodala, the 76ers will get Andrew Bynum and Jason Richardson, and the Magic will get Arron Afflalo, Al Harrington, Nikola Vucevic and one protected future first-round pick from each of the other three teams.

In addition, the Magic will be getting other pieces, including 76ers No. 1 draft pick Moe Harkless, a source told Stein.

If that's the case ^^^^ good deal for the Magic!

looks like im going to LA in June!

eat shit Laker Haters were back

bahahahahahahahahahah

Isaac, there are obviously a range of scenarios being discussed because Yahoo says Gasol is involved:

"There are other players involved in these fluid talks, but a framework of the possible deal includes Howard and Denver forward Al Harrington going to the Lakers, Philadelphia guard Andre Iguodala going to the Nuggets, Los Angeles center Andrew Bynum moving to the 76ers, and Los Angeles forward Pau Gasol and Denver guard Arron Afflalo going to the Magic, sources told Yahoo! Sports."

If true, the Lakers are giving up a LOT for Howard. I'm not sure it makes them better, but they will still be good, as they have Antawn Jamison and Jordan Hill to play the PF slot. The question for me remains, will the Lakers be able to defend the Thunder and Heat?

Isaac is right.

The deal is done.

LA are now the title favourites.

http://espn.go.com/blog/los-angeles/lakers/

Pau Gasol was, and still is, the Lakers Power Forward. He is not included in the trade.

No one will touch the Lakers, Thunder or Heat this year.

Thanks Isaac for confirming that. NBA.com has gasol in aswell but bleacher report confirms the deal is done with Pau staying in LA

Yahoo has now updated saying Gasol's agents have been assured he is not part of the deal. Damn Lakers get gift wrapped the best centre in the leage AGAIN!!!


I'm not saying Jamison and Hill are great, just solid enough to hold down PF on a team with Howard, Kobe and Nash. If you bothered to think about the context of what I wrote, you'd realise I was questioning if the Lakers would be better giving up BOTH Bynum and Gasol for Howard.

Moot point now though, because the Lakers just got ANOTHER FA steal to keep the winning going. With Gasol alongside Howard, they are going to have an impressive offence and enough tall timber around the basket to make life very difficult for guys like Westbrook, Harden, Rose, James and Wade to score at the basket.

The Sixers will look more dangerous after this trade as well. Need a bit more outside shooting, but some nice, very athletic young talent there now. Not sure of all their moves, but something like:

Bynum Hawes Vucevic
L. Allen Moultrie (R)
T. Young D. Wright Harkless (R)
Turner N. Young
Holiday

For those who haven't heard of Lavoy Allen, he was VERY good in the playoffs against KG last year. He could be a real surprise packet if he continues to grow this year.

Evan Turner was starting to come into his own in the playoffs last year too. The East needs to look out if he puts a consistent season together.

I don't mind this deal for the league as a whole.

Miami just got better, and they were already the champions. OKC will be another year older and smarter.

The league needed another super team.

Bynum was super talented but not so quick -- not the guy you want playing with a bunch of old, unathletic, slow dudes.

Also, the Sixers got a great deal out of this.

Beantown: Vucevic is going to the Magic.

Sixers gave up three promising young players, but none of them contributed to the great young team that the Sixers already were, now they get Bynum in basically a swap for Iggy w/ rookies.

ESPN.com reported that a trade call has been set for Friday morning to finalize the blockbuster that would feature Los Angeles getting the defensive superstar, Philadelphia getting Andrew Bynum from the Lakers and Jason Richardson from the Magic, Denver getting Andre Igoudala from the 76ers, and Orlando getting Arron Afflalo and Al Harrington from the Nuggets, Nikola Vucevic and Maurice Harkless from the 76ers and one first-round pick from each of the three other participants.

Can I ask why did Orlando accept this deal?

Great trades.

I still love my NY Knicks. I hope they are the team who learn to rise and represent the East.

Bulls should hopefully be dangerous again once Rose is back healthy.

Damn the NBA has become more exciting and athletic again.

Jake, I think everyone who isn't a Lakers or 76ers fan should be asking the Magic WTF THEY ARE DOING!!!

Problem is, there is so much bad blood with Howard, they can't go into the season with their only marketable player just biding his time and mailing it in for the fans.

Howard has screwed the Magic HARD by publicly demanding a trade and also publicly declaring who he will and won't resign for.

They have zero bargaining power and were stupid enough to knock back Houston's offer, so the Lakers and 76ers will end up getting absolute steals.

@ Jake: there is something to be gained for just letting a superstar go for nothing, no less trading him for young pieces: cap flexibility, the draft picks from having a crappy team. Magic got some decent young pieces as well. Sometimes when teams aggresively shop a superstar who wants out in a sign and trade, they are better off just letting him walk "for nothing" in free agency than taking on more burdensome contracts. That "nothing" is actually quite valuable in the NBA these days, especially after the new CBA's harsher luxury tax penalties kick in.

The Magic didnt have a very balanced roster outside of Dwight, so it's not like they could just trade him for a couple of pieces and compete. It was clear from the outset that this was going to be a full rebuild.

Great for fans who just want blockbuster superstar teams, but leaves a lot of poorer teams in struggletown, overpaying scrubs just to put together a team.

I agree that its about getting draft picks and cap flexibility for the Magic, Mick, but I reckon they had a better deal on the table from Houston earlier.

Vucevic MAY become pretty good, but he was only a mid-teens pick, as is Harkless. Afflalo is a nice role player, nothing more. The future picks they get won't be in the lottery with the probable exception of Denver, who might get them a pick in the 12-14 range.

They could have had Kevin Martin for a year to help make the basketball more palatable for fans, trade him for more pieces during the season or even resign him at the end if they want.

Added to that they could have probably had all three of Houston's teen picks in the last draft and other low cost guys with some ability and potential in Patterson, Parsons, Morris and Motiejunas.

On top of that, Houston was reportedly willing to take on most of the Magic's bad salary (Turkoglu, Davis, J-Rich). In the deal it looks like they have just taken they are only getting rid of J-Rich.

In addition, if I'm the Magic, I've been screwed so badly by Howard that the last thing I want to do is help him get what he wants.

Hell, if I were the Magic GM, I'd try to dump him in Charlotte for some of their never ending stream of high draft picks!

Isaac: I don't buy the "it's unfair for small market teams" line that has come about in recent years.

It's funny that the small market teams who complain are usually the ones like Milwaukee or Cleveland, who have had terrible front offices making appalling basketball decisions, while San Antonio and OKC have proven that small market teams can be a success. They are the ones that don't fall into the trap of overpaying the scrubs that teams like Cleveland (take your pick during the Lebron era), Orlando (Rashard Lewis, Hedo Turkoglu), and Milwaukee (signing Drew Gooden for any amount is overpaying him, let alone what they have him) have in recent years.

On the flip side: watch the Knicks implode this season in the biggest market in the world, with a stacked roster that is miles over the cap. Watch Brooklyn be hampered by Joe Johnson's contract for years to come, even in that same huge market with the richest owner in sports.

San Antonio have never spent over the cap in the history of the franchise (and neither have Chicago FWIW). Obviously with a bigger market you have more to spend, but that doesn't mean you can't win a championship and stay under the cap at the same time if the right people are making the right decisions.

That's only going to become more true when the new, harsher elements of the luxury tax kick in the next couple of years of this new CBA. Guys like Dan Gilbert were the ones fighting for these new rules to protect themselves from themselves, but they will ultimately become the victims: it will be even harder to put a good team on the floor if your team is run incompetently AND it's even harder to balance the books due to a tighter luxury tax, while teams who found a way to make the old rules work will still find a way to make the new rules work because they are smart.

I'm not saying the Lakers don't have advantages that smaller, poorer teams don't have: but they leverage those advantages by making smart personnel decisions - that's the bottom line.

Beantown: FWIW, if I were Hennigan, I would trade his preening ass to Charlotte or Milwaukee for nothing.

Damn this is going to be fun to watch, nash to howard,bryant and gasol.wow thats awesome.

What about Howards ego? I thought he wanted to be the big dog?

Well the magic assure everyone they are after the No.1 pick, and to be active at the end of next season.


Lakers are strong if they can stay healthy, that is an old line-up.

So the Lakers will look like this next season :

PG Nash / Blake
SG Kobe / Ebanks
SF World Peace / JamIson
PF Gasol / Jamison / Hill
C. Howard / Gasol / Hill

That's a beastly team. I think they need to add a back up who can play both guard positions, someone at the veteran minimum. If they can swing that, the only two questions will be-

1) Can they stay healthy?
2) Does Mike Brown have the skill to coach this stacked team?

Wonder how Howard and Gasol will play together??? Nash is going to have a field day playing in LA! Might actually watch some Nba this year now.
Still don't agree with teams that throw a bunch of stars together and go after a championship, even though it might be fun to watch.
Anyone think Miami can beat a healthy Lakers team in best of 7 series??

The most stacked team of all time. 6 former or current nba all stars which includes two mvps and Dwight Howard, one of the greatest defensive players of all time.

More importantly, this means that Bogut will face Howard more often again!

Lakers just got a helluva lot better with that trade. Nash and Howard on a pick and roll is going to be deadly. Don't see how the Heat will be able to handle LA in a best of 7 series, especially when they were using Bosh/Joel Anthony and Udonis Haslem at the 5 in the finals last year. Howard will abuse those guys inside, plain and simple.

Small teams can complain all they want (Beantown you can also complain but you need to remember that your team started the whole "bring stars together" back in 07/08) but there are some small markets that buck the trend by constantly making good basketball decisions. San Antonio and OKC are two very small markets but they are two of the biggest teams in the league. Only a few years ago Cleveland was in the NBA Finals and was a title contender, same goes for the Magic. All of this "we can't compete with the big market teams" is bullsh!t. Get a competent GM, draft well and put your organisation in a place where they can acquire an elite player who will put them over the top.

Everyone remembers the last time Lakers made a move like this for Malone and Payton right? We remember that not working out... Expect it again... Kobe will be Kobe, Howard won't like it, Nash will get pissed off with the kiddy attitudes, Pau will be in trade talks if things dont go to plan and cry in the corner

Malone was a 40+ year old geriatric with bad knees. Payton simply wasn't a good fit in the triangle. Nash's scoring has gone down over the last 2-3 years, but he still can distribute the rock. Howard is only entering the prime of his career now. He's only 26 years old. He's the best center in the NBA. Nash and Howard on a 1-5 pick and roll with Gasol for the mid range, along with Kobe on the weak side wing is going to be near impossible to stop.

The Celtics might have started the recent 'big 3' thing, but the Lakers have been pulling heists on the NBA for decades. It just gets a bit frustrating seeing them land the best players in nearly every era.

Late 60s they traded for Wilt. Early 70s they traded for Kareem (right after he won the Bucks their only title). 1979, despite being a playoff team, they got the #1 to draft Magic because the Jazz were stupid enough to give them 3 draft picks for Gail Goodrich! 1982 they once again made out like bandits when as NBA champs they used Cleveland's #1 to get Worthy. Then Shaq from Orlando in the 90s, Gasol from Memphis a few years back and now Howard!!!

Maybe their logo should be a leprechaun with a giant pot of gold instead of the Celtics!

Shaq is gonna rip Howard even more..

As a side note, the Lakers also landed Chris Duhon from Orlando. Not exactly a star, but a serviceable backup who makes them that little bit better again.

On paper, this team seems like it's born to play together. Howard has never played with a distributer like Nash, and has always been the main offensive focus(not to mention yahoo sports rates him as the most effective pick and roll roller, and we all know how great nash is at setting that up, right Amare?). Now, you could say he's 3rd or 4th. Every member of that first 6 have been reliable 20-25 ppg scorers at some point (Artest to a lesser extent) although they're a little older now.

Now, what happens if Howard has it in the post? You can't double him or you leave Gasol open/have kobe and nash spotting up. Again, Gasol is such a versatile offensive threat, but if you focus on covering him then howard gets a clean cut to the bsket. Not to mention the offensive rebounds he'll get from Kobe, or how he compltely changes the defensive dynamic of the team- allowing players to gamble and not work quite so hard.

I'm shamelessly supporting the Lakers for the sake of NAsh. Nobody deserves a ring more than him and I can't wait for this season!

The Lakers have just signed Jodie Meeks, too, after weeks of pursuing him.

Adds another dangerous shooter to the mix, and depth at the shallow 2 spot.

The Lakers did what I thought they'd do and improved their guard depth. Now they look like this :

PG Nash / Blake / Duhon
SG Kobe / Meeks
SF World Peace / JamIson
PF Gasol / Jamison / Hill
C. Howard / Gasol / Hill

That's a flat out astounding team on paper. Mike Brown seems to be the weakest link here. Can he pull this together to work on the floor?

The beauty of the roster is that all the teams that have positional advantages dont have a decent center, so Dwight can roam against Miami and OKC to stop their guards and wings.

Have to agree Philly made out like bandits, and I think Bynum will re-sign with them.

The funny thing is that the Magic gave up the best player and came away with nothing. Cap space means jack when no one wants to play for you. Those draft picks are protected to all buggery and will be mid firsts. Magic didn't even get the second or third best player in this trade, and got bent over again by the Lakers.

I like the core of the Nuggets now, and I think Philly have become a top 4 seed in the east.

Magic should of taken the early Nets deal, or the recent Houston deal..

Welcome to hell Magic fans, you can sit next to me, a Lolcats fan.

Lol Chewy! Anyone else think that if Brown can't win a championship with this lineup (assuming everyone stays healthy) he'll be shown the door??? They should bring Jackson back so he can start a collection of rings on his feet! Although he already has 13 doesn't he as a player and coach.

Brown is bringing in Eddie Jordan to run the Princeton offense.

Is that the right fit for this team?

You'll find that the Lakers won't be running a strict Princeton offense per se. There will be some element where they just put the ball in Nash's hands and say "here, go to work."

Got my eyes penciled in on seeing the Lakers against Denver on November 30 @ Staples Center. Hopefully D12 is healthy and playing by then.

Screw you magic, you are such a bunch of dumb arses. You gave up Dwight Howard for this bunch of poo? Jesus, Houston's offer was better than this. How do you take this over that when you get better young players, better draft picks and get rid of more salary. And you would have screwed Howard as well which is a bonus. You guys are dumb arses

Screw you magic, you are such a bunch of dumb arses. You gave up Dwight Howard for this bunch of poo? Jesus, Houston's offer was better than this. How do you take this over that when you get better young players, better draft picks and get rid of more salary. And you would have screwed Howard as well which is a bonus. You guys are dumb arses

What was Houston's offer? Can't remember.
How do the Lakers get Howard and Duhon out of this trade?
Only gave up Bynum from what I can see.

Lakers get to buy yet another Championship team. Have they ever actually developed a roster? They just buy whoever they want each year it seems.

Some league folk are suggesting that the media reports of the Houston offer were overblown in terms of what the offer was.

Allegedly, the deal was a bunch of rookies from this years draft, K-Mart and three (I think) unprotected draft picks.

The Nets deal was better before Lopez re-signed for the max, but apparently the Magic had the poo's that the Nets approached Howard in December and they went out of their way to make sure the Nets deal didn't go ahead due to that.

Thanks for the info on the Nets TR. Certainly seems likely that the Magic ruled out the Nets due to their collusion with Howard.

I lose track of exactly what Houston offered, but they certainly had Kevin Martin plus multiple draft picks in play and given Houston's roster, they would have been higher draft picks than anything Orlando just got from LA/Philly/DENVER.

So who thinks Orlando will win more than 10 games this season? Can't wait for the Magic-Bobcats clash, its going to be EPIC!

Beantown: I disagree - the Magic (while obviously not getting a good return on this deal at all) did not get bad enough.

If you look at their roster, they will win a few games - certainly more than the Bobcats.

lakers vs heat in the final, i wish lakers would get rid of world peace hes a disgrace to basketball

It's this sort of thing that turned me from a big NBA fan to someone who tunes in for the playoffs. The way teams can put rosters together just seems to lack credibility. Good if youre a Laker fan though.

saw a pic of Steven Adams and Dwight Howard together recently. Surprisingly Steven looked taller and Dwight was def bigger in the chest and arms but the difference wasn't as vast as you would think.

Mick so how many games do u think this roster will win?

Vucevic.
Harrington. Big Baby
Afflalo. Harkless Turkoglu
Redick. Q rich
Nelson

He could well be Mystro. Dwight is only 6'11 he's not overly tall for a NBA centre.

Above post was mine

paul, I agree. Good for blockbuster games, but shoddy for half the league who have to watch the big-name players coalesce at particular places.

Makes me value the teams who built from smart drafting or recruiting rather than picking up guys who flock to a brand or want an easy ride to a ring - Thunder, Spurs, etc. Even the Bulls?

TR what do you think of Kemba, Bigsmackdown and Gilly the Kid? How far can each go do u think? Kemba seems like he has some work to do to get the most out of his athleticism. Haven't seen anything of others but they also seem to be great athletes with work to do skill wise.

I'm definitely wrong in hindsight. Bobcats are better.

Magic should still not write off the instant rebuild: they got a HUUUGE trade exception from the Dwight deal: $18m (the biggest, by far, in league history. Problem is they have a year to use it, and they won't use it, because they're "rebuilding the old fashioned way".

And Dwight is not 6"11'. More around 6"9', according to most eye witness accounts from basketball writers. Not that it matters, he is huge.